Grenada's underwater art

Saving the coral reefs, one sculpture at a time.

Artist Jason De Caires Taylor believes his sculptures should be viewed on a different level — as deep as 24 feet beneath the surface of Moliniere Bay in the country of Grenada, to be exact. In 2006, the London-based artist and scuba instructor began making cement sculptures and submerging them beneath the waves, where they have become artificial reefs for aquatic life.

“Hurricanes have wiped out a lot of the coral in Grenada, and the places that weren’t damaged got all of the tourism, causing further degradation. The sculpture park eases the strain a bit,” says the 33-year-old Taylor.

His largest project, Vicissitudes, features a ring of children of various ethnic backgrounds holding hands. “It’s a comment on how children are affected by their surroundings and absorb everything around them,” says Taylor. “As the coral grows, they change in complexity.”

Score one for nature in the nature-versus-nurture conundrum.

Story by Annemarie Conte. This article originally appeared in Plenty in October 2007.